Remote control valve

ABSTRACT

The valve, has an orifice and cooperating poppet with the poppet situated to approach the orifice to an extent determined by a controlling crosshead that reciprocates axially in response to manipulation of the mud flow moving through the valve. The amount of restriction provided by the valve is varied by selected manipulation of the drilling fluid flow controls at the surface. Pressure provided to controlled machinery is regulated by a valve by-pass channel. Changes in the standpipe pressure indicates the state of the valve action achieved down hole.

This invention pertains to a valve for use down hole on drill strings tocontrol apparatus on the drill string that has drilling fluid poweredfunctions with a plurality of optional operating characteristics. Morespecifically, the valve responds to drilling fluid flow controlsmanipulated at the surface to change the optional operatingcharacteristics of apparatus controlled down hole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Drilling activities and other well bore related operations usually takeplace far below the earth surface and occasionally the nature of theoperations need to be changed. In years past the drill string was simplyremoved down to the bottom hole assembly, and the needed changes weremade, and the string was reinstalled in the well. Tripping the stringbecame more costly and alternatives were sought, and found. The downhole assembly was made to respond to objects dropped down the drillstring bore. Later the dropped objects were made recoverable withouttripping the string. More recently, communication from the surface tothe well bottom by way of manipulation of the drilling fluid flow rateaccomplished what became known as down link command.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,680, issued Jul. 6, 1976, disclosed means to alterthe state of down hole apparatus by the expedient of choosing betweendrill string rotation or mud flow as a first action after mud flow anddrill string rotation had been stopped.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,667, issued Jul. 29, 1975, disclosed means to alterstates of down hole apparatus by starting a mud flow rate below the flowrate used for drilling and maintaining that flow rate for a preselectedlength of time, say one minute, to change state down hole, beforeresuming the higher drilling fluid flow rate for drilling. When theapparatus down hole changed state, a pressure change signal, or pulse,was generated to indicate at the surface that the down hole change ofstate had been accomplished.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,289 issued Apr. 7, 1987, teaches the actuation of aselector valve responsive to manipulation of drilling fluid flowcontrols at the surface to alternately close and open the valve todivert fluid from the main fluid stream to power associated fluidpowered down hole equipment. In using this valve, the associatedequipment controlled had to have fluid handling capabilities withfeatures that accommodated the valve design.

With down link command readily available, the opportunity to usechangeable features on the bottom hole assembly was used to evolveapparatus capable of various measurement and control functions near thedrill head. Such down hole assets are now in the market place. Most havefluid handling features that require particular characteristics,especially operating pressure and flow rate, of the control valvesdesigned to regulate their activity.

There is a need for a remote control selector valve that is, itself,adaptable to present flow diverting capabilities to match the equipmentto be served.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a selector valvethat can be readily adapted to divert the amount of fluid, at apreselected pressure differential, ideally suited to the purpose to beserved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A valve, situated in the drill string bore, near the drill head, isactuated by manipulation of the drilling fluid flow rate at the surface.A valve poppet head is arranged to be urged by entrainment in the mudflow toward an orifice that will cooperate with the poppet head toinhibit the flow. The poppet head is carried by a control rod and isspring biased to urge it to move upstream. A crosshead on the rod isarranged to move along a serpentine path that progresses peripherallyaround the rod in response to induced axial excursions.

The serpentine path is a groove that is stationary relative to the drillstring. The groove is shaped such that the crosshead is urged to rotatein a selected rotational direction when moving axially and approachingan axial travel limit such that the return axial movement engages thegroove on a surface that moves the crosshead farther in the selectedrotational direction. This is known as a walk around groove well knownin the art of machine construction.

In the preferred embodiment, the entrained poppet approaches the orificeat about the speed of the flowing mud stream to reduce the erosion thatresults from valve throttling. The poppet leaves the orifice as a resultof reduced mud flow such that the pressure drop across the orifice, andthe resulting piston effect of the poppet, is overcome by the rodbiasing spring. There is then little pressure differential across thevalve and, hence, little erosion during the brief opening of the valve.

The valve provides power to controlled devices by providing a pressuredrop across the orifice that can be tapped for any hydraulic purpose. Toprovide the pressure drop without stopping mud flow the poppet isprovided with a by-pass bore, preferably along it's axis. The bore ispreferably fitted with a standard drill bit jet nozzle that isremovable. Bit jets are normally tungsten carbide and for any givenouter diameter several nozzle diameters are available. By selection ofnozzle diameters the pressure drop across the orifice can be selected inview of the drilling fluid flow planned. By providing the by-pass in thevalve, no by-pass is required, for maintenance of mud circulation, inthe equipment controlled. Further, failure of the equipment controlledby the valve cannot cut off the drilling fluid flow down the drillstring bore. The by-pass feature makes the valve operable with a varietyof controlled equipment. The probability of a sudden, and potentiallycatastrophic, shut down of the drilling fluid circuit is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the drawings wherein like features have similar captions.

FIG. 1 is a side view, in cutaway, of the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a surface development of an imaginary cylinder of suchdiameter that the walk-around groove layout is displayed as a plane.

FIG. 3 is a side view, mostly cut away, of a selected area of the formatof FIG. 1 showing optional features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the drawings, some details that have no bearing upon points ofnovelty, and are well established in the art, are not shown in theinterest of clarity and descriptive efficiency. Such omissions mayinclude weld lines, some threaded junctions, pins, seal ring elements,and the like.

In FIG. 1 housing 1 is a part of a drill string with means (not shown)on opposite ends to attach to a continuing drill string, a bore 1 a toconduct drilling fluid moving down the drill string, and a restriction 1b. Body 2 secured within bore 1 a by spiders 2 a, supports cam elements3 and 4, houses spring 8, and operating arbor 6. Arbor 6 extends fromthe body as extension 6 b to carry poppet 7 such that it can move tocooperate with orifice (restriction) 1 b to function as a valve toimpede the flow of drilling fluid (mud) along the drill string bore.

Cam elements 3 and 4 are secured to housing 4 by pins 3 a and 4 a atsuch positions that walk-around groove WA accepts crosshead pin 5 whichextends through arbor 6 to project into the groove on opposite sides.Spring 8 acts against the top of element 4 and against the bearing 9 tourge the upper arbor extension 6 a to the right, or upstream. Thebearing 8 resists, but does permit, rotation of the arbor relative tothe spring. The arbor will not rotate unless urged to do so by asignificant torque.

Torque is applied to the arbor to cause it to progress rotationally asit moves along the groove passages. The grooves are shown in FIG. 2.There are two identical pin ends projecting 180 degrees apart but, fordescriptive purposes, only one need be traced along the groove passages.Starting at groove position 3 a, the rest state, the pin will moveleftward when the poppet is entrained by flowing mud, to encounter thedeflector part 3 b of the groove. The arbor will rotate to allow the pinto move down groove extension 3 c to the end P1. The end p1 is axiallysituated such that poppet 7 engages the bore restriction leading toorifice 1 b. This will stop the mud flow not moving through bore 7 a andthe orifice of nozzle 11. The change in pressure drop through orifice 1b will be detectable at the surface as a change in standpipe pressureand it will provide hydraulic power for apparatus controlled by thevalve. The hydraulic power is acquired by tapping the source channel 12and relating the circuit to the lower mud pressure in bore 1 c.

When mud flow is essentially stopped, the spring 8 will move the arborupstream, opening the valve. Pin 5 will engage the deflector surface andmove through opening 3 d, rotating the arbor, and proceed to the restposition 3 e.

When mud flow is restarted, the pin will move downstream to engage thealigned deflector surface and move through opening 3 f, further rotatingthe arbor, and continue down shorter groove extension to position P2. Aslong as mud flow entrains the poppet with enough force to overcomespring 8, the pin will stay at the position P2. The axial position ofposition P2 is such that it stops the poppet some distance from theorifice and mud flow down the drill string is not significantlyrestricted by the valve.

When mud flow is again stopped the pin moves from position P2 andthrough opening 3 h to repeat the process already described.

The program of pin movements through the walk around alternates theaxial positions that open and close the valve. Obviously, there could beother schedules such as two closed positions spaced by one openposition.

FIG. 3 shows an alternate form of poppet and orifice combinationproviding a by-pass channel that is formed of the peripheral areabetween the orifice 20 a and the smaller poppet 22. Housing 20 andactuator 21 are similar to the same elements of FIG. 1, and similarlysuspended in the bore by spiders 21 a. Before the valve is actuated byprocesses already described herein, the poppet is stopped well above theorifice and does not influence pressure drop therethrough. When thepoppet is lowered, as previously described for FIG. 1, it extends to, orpartially through, the orifice to provide a restricted passage outsidethe poppet. The restriction is determined by the preselected diametricsize relationship between the poppet and the orifice. The extent towhich the poppet extends into the bore of the orifice has little effectupon the amount of restriction realized. Channel 23 conducts fluid atthe preselected pressure to the machinery controlled.

It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaims.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the apparatus of thisinvention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanyingdrawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

The invention having been described, I claim:
 1. Apparatus for use inthe bottom hole assembly on drill strings in earth bore hole operationswhich responds to manipulation of drilling fluid flow controls at thesurface to alter the operational state of associated drilling fluidpowered down hole equipment and provide a valve by-pass route fordrilling fluid that is independent of said equipment, the apparatuscomprising: a) a housing arranged to function as a length element of adrill string, with a drilling fluid channel extending therethrough; b)an orifice in said channel situated to accept at least part of a streamof said drilling fluid; c) a poppet situated to move toward and awayfrom said orifice to variably restrict the flow of said drilling fluidtherethrough; d) a channel through said poppet to provide said drillingfluid by-pass through said poppet and said orifice; e) control means insaid housing to move said poppet relative to said orifice in response topreselected manipulation of drilling fluid flow controls at the surface,said control means comprising a walk around contrivance with a fixedserpentine groove and movable cross head arrangement, said crossheadcarrying said poppet, and responsive to axial movement of said poppet tomove said crosshead in a preselected rotational direction along saidgroove, said groove including at least one axially extending grooveportion which permits said poppet to engage said orifice to inhibit flowof said drilling fluid therethrough and at least one axially extendinggroove portion which permits said poppet to approach, but stop somepreselected distance from said orifice.
 2. Apparatus for use on fluidconducting drill string bottom hole assemblies to change the drillingfluid pressure available to fluid operated equipment in response topreselected manipulations of drilling fluid flow rates at the surface,the apparatus comprising: a) a housing to function as part of a drillstring, with a drilling fluid channel extending therethrough; b) arestriction in said housing arranged to accept at least part of a streamof said drilling fluid. c) a poppet situated to move toward and springbiased to move away from said orifice to variably restrict the flow ofsaid drilling fluid therethrough, said poppet situated to resist theflow of said stream to derive entrainment forces to move with saidstream, with a by-pass fluid channel arranged to discharge fluid throughsaid orifice; d) a poppet carrier arranged to move in sympathy with saidpoppet toward and away from said orifice; e) a walk around comprising aserpentine groove fixed in said housing and a cooperating crosshead,carried by said poppet carrier, such that axial movement of said poppetinduces preselected rotational movement of said crosshead, said groovehaving at least one axial extension that permits said poppet to inhibitflow of said stream through said orifice, and at least one axialextension that allows said poppet to move axially toward and stop somepreselected distance from said orifice.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1wherein said by-pass fluid channel through said poppet comprises anopening through said poppet to accept, and secure, an interchangeablenozzle insert.